Bombs strike rebel-held Aleppo and northern Syria, 54 dead
BEIRUT -- Bombs rained down on rebel-held eastern Aleppo for a second straight day Wednesday, pounding a district that houses several medical facilities, including the central blood bank, and forcing Syrian staff and patients in the only remaining pediatric hospital to cower in a basement as buildings collapsed around them.
At least 54 people were killed in airstrikes and artillery shelling across northern Syria, part of a long-anticipated offensive against rebel-held areas announced by Russia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The bombardment hit in besieged neighborhoods of Aleppo, as well as the surrounding countryside and the nearby rebel-held province of Idlib.
